This invention relates generally to headwear with self-contained cooling means and more particularly to such headwear in the form of a surgeon's headpiece for use during surgical operations.
A complex surgical operation is a grueling, stress-laden experience for even the most skilled of surgeons. Such operations are normally performed in operating rooms of hospitals under powerful incandescent lights that radiate a great deal of heat which, combined with the stress experienced by surgeons performing operations in which human life often hangs in the balance, cause much discomfort to surgeons performing their work in the glare of the lights. Such a surgeon is dressed in a gown, surgical gloves and a covering and mask for his head that leaves only his eyes and a small part of his face exposed. In performing the intricate steps of a complicated operation, the surgeon generally has his hands occupied to such an extent that a nurse must periodically mop his brow to remove perspiration, particularly after an extended period of time in the operating theater. As he goes through the various steps of a complicated operation, the surgeon often bends his head and exposes a part of the back of his neck to the intense heat of the overhead lights. The longer the operation takes, the more the surgeon suffers from heat exposure and nervous tension. When it is considered that operations often take many hours, sometimes with more that one surgeon at work on a patient, it is not surprising that such a surgeon leaves an operating room at the end of the long ordeal with his gown and other wearing apparel wringing wet. Up to now, no way of providing adequate cooling comfort to surgeons during operating procedures has been made available insofar as we are aware, in spite of the fact that an urgent need for such an expedient has long existed.
The prior art contains disclosures of various types of headwear with built-in cooling means, but none of these disclosures relates to a headpiece for use by an operating surgeon, or anything that would satisfactorily serve that purpose, insofar as we are aware. Typical of prior art references containing such disclosures are the following U.S. Patents to William A. Waters: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,391,407; 3,543,415; 3,381,198; 4,141,083; and 4,238,857. Each of the first two of these patents discloses a helmet with a battery-operated fan and cooperating temperature control means mounted in its dome, the third and fourth disclose air conditioning units for headwear, comprising electric motors, and fans, removably secured within lightweight housings, and the fifth relates to another self-contained air conditioning unit for headwear with means for blowing warm or cool air onto the wearer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,735,423 to Julius Droz discloses a hat with a hollow chamber in which is mounted a fan, said chamber having a discharge port with vanes to direct the air downward. U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,981 to Boden discloses a hat or cap having a crown with ventilaion openings including a top opening beneath which a baffle is supported. The baffle enables "free flow of air" through the space thereabove within the hat or cap and "blocks direct passage of sunlight into [said] hat or cap through the top opening."
In none of the prior art fans mounted in or on headwear of which we are aware is sufficient air flow achieved to provide any significant cooling effect therefrom. The Waters headwear, for instance, relies, for the most part, upon air conditioning attachments for such cooling effect, not on fans alone. Each of the above-mentioned (prior art) fan arrangements has a fan blade mounted within a relatively large chamber, the chamber typically being provided with grid members or the like at its intake and outlet openings that hinder the free flow of air therethrough. As a consequence, while there is some air circulation around the head of one wearing such headwear, there is not enough circulation to provide any significant degree of comfort to the wearer, especially if he is doing something involving physical effort, such as, for example, mowing a lown, on a warm summer day. Even if the flow of air is not hindered by grid means, or the like, a fan blade turning in a relatively large space cannot create the kind of cooling effect that a more focused or channelized stream of air can achieve. Thus, none of the prior art headgear of which we are aware would be suitable for use by a surgeon operating for several hours under the hot lights of an operating room.